Choppy seas ‘rough up’ fishermen

The Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service yesterday issued Rough Seas Bulletin Number 11 stating that conditions in open waters had become more agitated along the north and east coasts.

It said wave heights were three metres and higher, that the seas were choppy and strong winds continued to agitate the surface of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. A Maracas lifeguard told Sunday Newsday the water was “really terrible” yesterday and was even worse on Friday. She said the waves were large, the water was rough, and there were strong currents throughout, but people were still going into the water.

She said there were red flags all along the beach yet the lifeguards were still having difficulties trying to keep bathers from going beyond the breakers.

“We are trying to encourage people to stay in waist-high or even knee-high water so that if they get into trouble they can hopefully stand up and walk out, but short of tying a rope around their waists, it’s not happening,” she said.

Mayaro fisherman Ramesh Cooblal also said the sea in his area was very rough, mostly because of the high winds.

He said usually fishermen caught a lot of fish around this time of year but there have been rough seas since December and it seemed to be getting worse.

He said all but one or two “stubborn people” were pulling their boats onto the shore, and those who went out were not catching much fish.

In addition, he said the rough seas were churning up a lot of seaweed that was getting hooked up in the nets and tangling them, making things worse for the fishermen.

Toco fisherman Eric Miller had a similar story of high winds, rough seas, and large waves “near the shore and outside.” He said it was so bad that last week one man anchored his boat near the shore but the water was so rough that it got swamped and sank.

Miller said the result of the rough seas was that none of the fishermen had been going out to fish at all.

However, he expressed the hope that next week things would calm down enough to allow the fishermen to catch some fish to sell and feed their families.